Hi folks!
So I got all inspired while listening to ADELE's 21 album yesterday, and this is what became of it. Reviews would be greatly appreciated, as this is my first one shot.
Cheers!
Disclaimer: I do not own The Legend of Zelda, nor did I write the song "Don't You Remember". Those belong to Nintendo and ADELE respectively.
Zelda knelt at the temple alter, her white dress puffing up with air as she did so before settling on the ground around her. She had been against the large hoop that had made the dress double the size of her from the beginning, but everyone else seemed to think it was needed, so she had kept quiet on the subject. The lace on the top of her dress itched at her constantly, but she pushed that away from her mind as she sat silently, looking up towards of the roof of the Temple of Time.
"Dear Goddesses," she prayed silently, leaving her gloved hands in her lap. "Please, let this night pass smoothly."
She had no idea why she was praying to the Goddesses about this. Zelda was sure that they could not change what would occur on this night. Everything that they planned happened for a reason. After all, what had taken place today was for convenience, and for the prosperity of Hyrule. "Not for love", Zelda thought painfully, as she dropped her head to the temple altar in front of her.
She had agreed to go along with this arrangement because her father was very ill, and it was his sincerest wish that the marriage took place before he died. Zelda, with her heart breaking into a million pieces as she did, agreed to see that her father's wish would be granted.
With her heart still hurting, Zelda thought of what had occurred in the previous week. The Prince, who was now her husband, was not at all bad looking, and from the week that they had spent together previously, she had learnt that he was an agreeable man. He did not seem to have any pitfalls through his personality, and Zelda could see that one day, he would make a very strong King. "With you at my side," he had said one day during a walk through the palace gardens, "I will be an even stronger ruler."
The ceremony itself had been beautiful, and the reception at the castle afterwards had been a grand banquet, the likes of which had not been seen since the War had ended. Zelda had been given compliments of her beauty left, right and centre, and the conversation would always be of the ceremony, or what this would mean for Hyrule and its new ally, or what the future held for Zelda and her new husband, how many children they should have….
Zelda found the conversation stifling. Mixed with the tight, white dress she was currently wearing, Zelda felt like she had been imprisoned. Once the band started up and she had completed her first dance with her new husband, she told him she had to excuse herself for a short time, and escaped to the Temple of Time.
It was funny, Zelda thought, that the very place that had caused her misery for the day would be the very place she would find solitude. The Temple played its never-ending sound of music, seemingly coming from an invisible choir, and was draped in a darkness of light grey. Somehow, even though it was pitch black outside, the inside of the temple seemed to produce its own light and create a colour that reflected Zelda's state of mind.
Zelda found her newly acquired silence comforting, although being alone with her own thoughts was dangerous. When she stood at the altar that very afternoon, Zelda couldn't help but remember the way her heart felt when she had said the words, "I do": It felt like it was letting out a cry of frustration and pain, all the while shrivelling up to a quarter of its size, like a balloon that had lost all of its air.
Suddenly, her ears picked up sounds occurring at the back of the Temple. She heard the door slowly creak open, someone step inside, and then quietly shut the door behind them. They took five steps to be fully inside the Temple before stopping and letting out a sigh.
Zelda knew who it was before he spoke. This was the true reason why she had prayed to the Goddesses. She didn't want to face him to explain what had taken place, at least for a couple of years. On this particular night, after everything that had happened, her emotions were a wreck, and she knew that if she had to face him, it would go anything but smoothly.
But he was here. Now. She braced herself for him to break the silence with some form of anger or hurt.
Instead, Zelda heard him say with resigned sadness, "when will I see you again?"
Zelda held down a gasp and stayed silent. Maybe if she didn't say anything, he would just leave her alone and go….
"You know, you left with no goodbye," he continued. "Not a single word was said…". He trailed off now, and Zelda heard him take a couple of steps towards her. She didn't know what she would do if he ended up directly behind her.
She heard him stop moving, and murmur in a voice so low that she struggled to hear exactly what he said. "No final kiss to seal any seams…"
"I had no idea of the state we were in," Zelda replied bitterly, before wishing that she hadn't interrupted. It was just like him to push her buttons and force a response out of her. She mentally berated herself.
Zelda was focussed so inwardly that she didn't notice her guest kneel down beside her. When she felt a weight on her dress she looked to her right and saw, for the first time in a year, the true love of her life.
He had the same sandy blonde hair she remembered, the same sharp blue eyes, the same muscular figure; he even wore the same shade of green that he was so accustomed to, although the tunic had disappeared from his wardrobe some time ago. Zelda peered at his face and for the first time, she noticed that he looked tired, like he hadn't slept in weeks. Instead of his usual aura of fun and confidence, he seemed to radiate sadness and loneliness.
He returned her stare; so piercing that Zelda felt shivers go up and down her spine. Slowly, almost uncertainly, he reached out with his left hand in an attempt, Zelda guessed, to hold one of her hands, which were still in lap.
But she didn't find out.
She shuffled away from him saying, "Don't", in a low voice. He froze immediately, his eyes widening in shock.
"I know I have a fickle heart," she said as a way of explanation.
She saw his eyes widen in realisation and flood with hope. "And a bitterness?" he asked almost breathlessly.
Zelda felt her eyes prickle and she swallowed out of habit. He would not see her cry. She needed to remain strong, and he needed to suffer.
"No. A wandering eye perhaps," Zelda replied, her words like ice.
She saw him flinch at his own words from the past being thrown back in his face.
"I deserved that," he said, nodding to himself. "And the heaviness in my head."
Zelda turned back to look at the Temple alter and took deep breaths. Her nerves were still all over the place, and she needed to calm down. She had high hopes that they would be able to talk about this like civilised adults. Her feelings, however, which she had been sure had been locked up in a box somewhere in her mind, were starting to break through. Zelda mentally berated herself again, telling herself she should be thankful the Goddesses blessed her with the new husband she now had. With him here though, keeping those feelings at bay was always going to be difficult.
They sat in silence for a time, Zelda continuing to take her deep breathes. She could hear her sighs reverberate around the Temple every time she took a breath out, and suddenly, the silence around her seemed awkward. She realised that she needed to finish this conversation with him.
"Why are you here?" she asked, breaking the silence but still focussing on the altar in front of her.
She saw out of the corner of her eye him turning his head towards her, and hesitate before answering. "Don't you remember?" he questioned, and Zelda could hear the hurt in his voice.
"Forgive me if my memory is a little bit off considering everything's that's happened in the past week," she replied nastily. She knew it wasn't fair on him to be acting all royally and uptight around him, especially after their close past. But showing him anger was the only way that she could stop herself from showing the other extreme emotion that was tugging at her all over: the urge to curl up into a ball and cry until the end of her days.
She heard him sigh after his response and he moved so again, he was close enough to Zelda to touch her. He leaned over and whispered in her ear, "Don't you remember the reason you loved me before?"
Zelda's breath caught with his close proximity, and how his voice had made her skin appear in goose bumps. Not only was this the closest he had been to her since they went their separate ways a year ago, the question he had asked her was so symbolic that she nearly gave in to the despair ravaging her insides.
"You dare come here and ask me that?" she whispered angrily. "I am a married woman now! What has happened in the past, happened for a reason, just like what happened today, and what will happen in the future has and will occur for a reason, because it is what the Goddesses want."
"You still didn't answer my question," he said patiently. He had moved now so he was kneeling right in front of her. His blue eyes were now full of determination. "Look at me Zelda, and tell me directly that you don't remember."
She looked down from his intense stare to look at her hands. Of course she remembered the reason why she loved him. She remembered that day of five years ago as clearly as if it had occurred yesterday. She had fallen off her horse and had badly knocked her head on the way down. After a week of being unconscious, Zelda came to not knowing who or where she was, or who any of her acquaintances were. After three days of everyone in the Castle, including her own parents, trying to unlock her memory, he came into her bedroom as a last resort. After a seemingly pleasant start to the conversation, it got heated very quickly, his frustration over not getting anywhere with her finally boiling over to the surface. It had resulted in him finally screaming out, "Don't you remember the reason you loved me before?" and, before a clueless Zelda could shake her head, he had crushed his lips onto hers in feverish desperation. Zelda's mind had come back half way through that kiss, and she had never enjoyed anything as much as that moment. When he pulled away, he had leaned his forehead onto her own whispering, "Baby, please remember me once more."
"If I keep getting kissed like that, I will always remember you."
She had seen him stumble back from her in shock, and Zelda couldn't help but smile at his reaction. "You know the reason I loved you before. It was because I not only trust you, but I know what wherever I am, and whatever state I am in, you will always be there to bring me back and save me. And that will continue to be true for the rest of our days"
He had smiled broadly at her confession, as it was something they had never really talked about before that day. They each knew, of course, of each other's feelings and their own, but when you're a teenager, and from different social classes, you tend to keep those feelings locked up.
The majority of that day had been told to Zelda after she had regained her memory, and, back in the present, Zelda could feel his eyes boring into her. His challenge had been hanging in the air awhile now, and she knew he would get impatient if she didn't dignify him with an answer. But as despair waged war on her insides, her head was pounding with an emotion Zelda hadn't realised she even contained: that of explicit rage at what he had done. She decided in that instant, to fight fire with fire.
"When was the last time you thought of me?" she demanded, meeting his intense star with one of her own.
He was taken aback by her question, she could tell, and he fell back onto his bottom with a heavy sigh. "What do you mean?" he asked confused.
Zelda raised her eyebrows in judgement. "I've heard the stories," she said, gradually moving her legs so she could stand up. "Your night time escapades are one of the favourite topics of my maids. It seems that you have completely erased me from your memory." Having such a large dress on, she had not stood up as gracefully as she would have liked, but her words had the affect she was looking for. He had bowed his head and Zelda could see that he was trembling. With anger, fear, or sadness, she didn't know.
"I often think about where I went wrong," he said to his lap. Zelda could hear the honesty in his voice, and it made her heart ache.
"The more I do think about it…"
"The less I know how sorry you are for it, because as of yet, I still have not had one word of an apology. For all I know, reason why you think about it so much is because you're trying to relive every detail!"
He looked up at Zelda's interruption, and she could see the tears starting to swell in his eyes. This is what Zelda's head wanted: to make him suffer, and to finally realise what his mistakes had cost him.
"You know that's not true," he whispered, with tears starting to flow from his eyes.
Zelda remained stoic, but with great difficulty. He heart was telling her to forget this tirade and to envelope him in her arms; her head was screaming at her to keep going, and to make him as miserable as possible.
"But don't you remember?" Zelda asked, standing with her head high. She liked this feeling of looking down on his crying form. It made her feel slightly better seeing him in this pathetic state. She started to walk around him in a circle, her wide dress not letting her get very close to his collapsed appearance. "Don't you remember the reason you loved me before? Oh, but of course, I forgot. You couldn't have loved me." Zelda knelt down so that she was level with the convulsing being in front of her. She could clearly see now that he was crying, an action that she never thought she would see such a strong man like him do.
"No, you couldn't have loved me," Zelda continued. "Otherwise you would not have done what you did."
He looked up at her, his bottom lip still trembling, his eyes full of sorrow. "Do you really believe that?" he asked with disbelief.
Before Zelda knew it, his lips were on hers, and her box of locked emotions overflowed through her veins. Her body felt alive as he snaked his hands around her waist and crawled up her back, tangling his fingers in her blonde, curly hair, which lay loose behind her head. She felt her own hands move around his muscular hips and move up under his shirt to his chiselled chest. She realised that when she had kissed her husband that afternoon, she did not feel the same electricity that sweeping like a current through her entire body right now, and she realised that she never would again.
She had to stop this before her heart disappeared entirely.
She broke the kiss suddenly and stepped back from Link, shaking her head and doing her best not to succumb to the tears that had been threatening to break since the start of their meeting. He looked red faced and breathed deeply, before smiling hopefully. "If I keep getting kissed like that, I will love you. Always. And I know that kiss was all it took for you to remember me once more."
Zelda froze in shock. She couldn't believe it. Not only had he still not apologised for what he had done, but also, he had the nerve to be arrogant about it. The electricity that Zelda had felt all but evaporated, leaving her rage to fully take over.
Zelda walked directly up to him and slapped his face, as hard as her bony arms could muster. "I should have you arrested for that," she spat, before turning on her heel, and walking towards the exit of the Temple.
"I gave you the space so you could breathe and get over this," she heard him shout, but she continued to walk. As far as she was concerned, this conversation was over.
"I kept my distance so you would be free!"
"Clearly that worked tonight!" she shouted to the door, and she again reprimanded herself for responding. She quickened her pace, in the hope that making a quick getaway would save her from this dire predicament.
"I did it in the hope that you would find that missing piece, the one that you need to complete the puzzle that is your life."
At this Zelda stopped walking, the eerie silence surrounding her. What he said next was important: it would either completely change this situation, or reaffirm her decision to let it be.
"I'd hoped that the final piece of the puzzle would be me, and you would realise that you couldn't go on without me. So I hoped that me giving you space would eventually bring you back to me."
Arrogant Bastard.
"Well," Zelda said, as she turned her head slightly towards the other end of the Temple to address her intruder. "You will be happy to know that I did eventually find that missing piece once you were gone from my life. And I married him this afternoon."
She turned again and headed for the exit, the click of high heels on the tiles resonating around the room. She had just reached the door when she heard him yell with anguish, "Why don't you remember?"
Zelda stopped right at the door and this time turned around fully to face the speaker. She could see now he was angry and frustrated, and for the first time, she felt scared to be in his presence.
"Why don't you remember the reason you loved me before? Why can't you just say it? I know you're not happy with your marriage. I was there, at the ceremony this afternoon: I've never seen you look so depressed."
He started to walk to close the large gap between them before Zelda shouted, "stay back! Or I will notify the guards."
He froze automatically and took a deep breath. Zelda knew he was attempting to calm himself down, but she also knew that it would take him a good deal of time to do so.
"Fine, I will stay here," he said patiently. "But Zelda please, I know you remember, I know you do. Please, tell me the reason you love me. Please."
Please, remember me once more. Zelda heard the desperation in his voice, and she couldn't help but be taken back to that day five years ago. So many things had changed in those five years, and Zelda had ridden a roller coaster of emotions. No, she was not happy with her situation, and no, she would never be able to truly love her husband, no matter how agreeable he was. But Zelda honestly believed that the Goddesses had made the past events occur for a reason. There was a reason why she was married out of convenience, rather than to the person standing in front of her. After that day, a year ago, when she had learned of what had transpired and what he had done, Zelda had thought that she had angered the Goddesses into making her life as miserable as possible. But she saw now that her marriage today was the Goddesses way of ending the ride of her emotions. With her new husband, she would be loved, and cherished, and treated properly.
And as much as it pained her heart to accept it, those things would never be an option with the man standing in front of her.
So, instead of answering the question, Zelda turned and opened the door to exit the Temple. With her head held high, she slammed the door loudly behind her, and descended the stairs to head back to the castle. Behind her, she heard a loud cry of pain, anger and frustration, all rolled into one, and Zelda's stoic complexion finally broke. Tears streamed down her face as her heart, which she was sure could not hurt anymore, started to drum painfully in her chest.
When will I see you again? His first question of their meeting floated back into her mind. It was as if her brain was challenging her to see how far she was willing to go. As more tears streamed down her face, she answered his question, speaking it aloud to no one in particular.
"Never, Link."